Apple is slowly expanding the availability of its Apple Intelligence AI features, adding support for more languages and making the feature available in new regions.
Soon, more countries will receive language support from this feature.
Apple Intelligence Gains Support for Eight New Languages
As MacRumors reports, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said in the company’s latest earnings call that Apple Intelligence will support eight additional languages from April onwards. The tech publication wrote that the new languages include:
- French
- German
- Italian
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Japanese
- Korean
- Simplified Chinese
Apple Intelligence is currently available in English only but in limited regions, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa. With the April update, the AI features will also be available for English-speaking users in India and Singapore—this is good news for those who want to have a comfortable time reading in English.
iOS 18.4 Expected to Introduce the Language Expansion
While Apple has neither confirmed nor denied it, it is likely the new language capability will be implemented when iOS 18.4 hits the scene. This rollout is a landmark in Apple’s gradual, year-long rollout of its AI-fueled platform, which, to date, has been approached with caution across 2024, Mashable reports.
Apple Intelligence Meets Headwinds of EU Regulations
However, despite its expansion, Apple Intelligence is not available for most European markets. This is due to the regulations imposed by the European Union on the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The Cupertino tech giant said that “many of the core features of Apple Intelligence will start to roll out to iPhone and iPad users in the EU” in April. This implies that the company has potentially figured out a way to comply with the tough data privacy and competition requirements that have been set by regulators in the EU.
Apple Banking on iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 for AI Adoption
Cook pointed out that Apple Intelligence adoption will be increasing considering that consumers who upgrade to iPhone 15 and new iPhone 16 models—the only devices on which AI features are available up to now—will receive Apple Intelligence. Already, Google and Samsung have integrated the advanced AI functionalities found in Apple Intelligence within the latest variations of their products.
Productivity Improvements and Advancements With Siri Through Apple Intelligence
Apple Intelligence is a product that has helped to save a lot of time and increase productivity, according to Cook. In particular, he pointed to the email summarization feature as something that has really made a difference:
“Once you start using the features, you can’t imagine not using them anymore. I know I get hundreds of emails a day, and the summarization function is so important,” Cook said.
Moreover, Cook added that Apple Intelligence upgrades for Siri will be implemented gradually in the next few months, thus increasing the virtual assistant’s functionality.
Apple’s slow rollout of AI capabilities indicates the company’s concern with both quality and compliance with regulatory bodies. As Apple Intelligence expands to support more languages and reach a wider audience, it is well on its way to becoming a standard feature on the iPhone.
Apple Intelligence is impressive, but hallucinations could happen, just like in the case of notification summaries. The AI-powered smartphone market is projected to grow for the next few years, but that doesn’t mean everyone will embrace it.
Of course, privacy and user-related issues may arise and this is important for Apple so they could address the concerns properly. Regardless, Apple Intelligence is already a masterpiece in the making, but only if the iPhone maker can sustain its success soon.
